he says president obama has heightened the prospect of conflict. can provoke aggression and encourage disorder. white house aides say the president is looking forward to debating foreign policy with mitt romney. >> promised a few things. end the iraq war , he did. take the fight to al-qaida and degrade them. he has. >> major foreign policy speech to deliver in the next few weeks. >> and foreign policy is the subject of the debating come up on october 22nd. that one is in florida >> mr. romney, we know, is behind in the the polls in the swing states and after that gaff, what's it going to take for him to turn a little for this debate? >> reporter: it won't be easy. it is possible. he's going to have to turn things around. strong debate performances and he really needs to take a lot of these states where he's battling the president where the president has a lead in a lot of swing states. florida, colorado, nevada, north carolina, new hampshire. paul ryan is right. people aren't focused until the debates >> first time we've seen them shoulder to shoul